U.S. COVID update: Cases and hospitalizations continue to rise, death toll at 999,228
– New cases: 75,599
– Average: 64,030 (+2,336)
– States reporting: 35/50
– In hospital: 17,045 (+592)
– In ICU: 1,986 (+56)
– New deaths: 457
– Average: 362 (+10)Data: https://t.co/YDZSbYO7l7 pic.twitter.com/E1BOlBGty0
— BNO|Medriva Newsroom (@medriva) May 4, 2022
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China reports 16 new COVID deaths in mainland on May 3 vs 20 a day earlier https://t.co/GXy12C5NtJ pic.twitter.com/HS9kpAlnJX
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 4, 2022
May 3: residents of Zhengzhou (郑州), Henan are scrambling to stock up on meat, vegetables and other foodstuffs after the government announced city-wide mass COVID testing and partial lockdown (管控). Multiple cases were identified at Zhengzhou East high-speed rail station.
1/n pic.twitter.com/D5T8b2CNzv
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) May 3, 2022
Beijing is closing some 10% of the stations in its vast subway system as an additional measure against the spread of coronavirus. China's capital has been on high alert with restaurants and bars limited to takeout only and classes suspended indefinitely. https://t.co/N20Ys7DplC
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 4, 2022
Some Shanghai residents are turning to NFTs with videos, photos and artworks capturing their ordeal in the month-long COVID lockdown, to ensure they can be shared and avoid deletion https://t.co/q0qTSpJZtz pic.twitter.com/5rbLYWfCs2
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 4, 2022
Hong Kong recorded 313 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday. The city also added three deaths, including one backlogged case.
Full, trusted coverage on HKFP: https://t.co/w8LTgNxKZy pic.twitter.com/5kXKAOZum5
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) May 4, 2022
India registered about 475,000 more total deaths in 2020 than the previous year, government data released months ahead of schedule on Tuesday showed, as the World Health Organization readies its estimates of excess COVID-19 deaths whose methodology New Delhi has opposed.
Some experts estimate India’s actual COVID death toll is as high as 4 million, about eight times the official figure, especially as a record wave driven by the Delta variant killed many people in April and May of last year. The WHO’s estimate will be published on Thursday.
Vinod Kumar Paul, a top health official who has overseen India’s fight against the pandemic, said there was nothing “dramatic” in the total death data for 2020 and that those were “absolute, correct and counted numbers”.
He said the data showing 8.1 million total deaths in India in 2020 was released by the Office of the Registrar General two to three months in advance because of the attention on the country’s COVID toll…
India officially reported 148,738 COVID-19 deaths in 2020, with the tally jumping to 523,889 on Tuesday out of more than 43 million cumulative infections. Only the United States and Brazil have recorded more deaths as of Tuesday.
Countries around the world reported only 1.83 million COVID-19 deaths in 2020 but the WHO estimates excess mortality of at least 3 million globally for that year.
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Is #Covid becoming more flu-like in its transmission and evolution patterns? @MeganMolteni explores. https://t.co/nbHN6CxgDy
— Helen Branswell ?? (@HelenBranswell) May 3, 2022
This is hard to extract — it’s worth reading the whole thing:
… To Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, these steeper, shorter waves of infection caused by Delta, Omicron, and now BA.2 look like signs of a potentially important shift in the virus’s behavior.
“It could be that more individuals are now forward-transmitting and we’re seeing a move away from cluster transmission to one that is more linear like you would expect for flu,” she said. The original strain of SARS-CoV-2 was estimated to have a dispersion parameter, k, of around 0.1, meaning that fewer than 20% of people infected passed on the virus to someone else. Pandemic influenza is less sparing. With a k of around 1, it reliably hops hosts more than 60% of the time, based on estimates from the 1918 pandemic.
A recent modeling study led by Lidia Morawska at Queensland University of Technology found that the Delta variant is less reliant on superspreading events, with a k of 0.49. Her team hasn’t yet repeated the work for Omicron, but she expects that its preference for the upper respiratory tract, where it replicates at astonishing rates, probably results not just in more transmission, but more uniformity in who transmits to others.
“Even a very short time is sufficient to inhale enough of this virus to be infected,” Morawska said. “Short enough that ventilation may not have had a chance to remove the virus from the air.”…
But the virus is just one component of what makes for a superspreading event. The other is the host network where it lands — which is a function of the current levels of population immunity and how many contacts people are making.
“Based on everything we’ve seen throughout the pandemic, the underlying population susceptibility seems to be the primary driver of spread,” said Emily Gurley, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. “I think that’s more important than changes in the virus itself.”…
It’s also possible that flu might actually be more like Covid-19 than we appreciate. “I suspect that there’s actually a lot of superspreading with flu, we just haven’t studied it in the same way that we have for this coronavirus,” said Cowling…
#Coronavirus infection has been detected in donor organs. What's the risk? Small sample of donors passed the infection to lung recipients but not to other organ recipients. Doctors are trying to better understand possible threats to transplant recipients https://t.co/cpVKWV5sTR
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 4, 2022
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An increase in COVID-19 infections around the U.S. has pushed cities into high-risk categories that are supposed to trigger indoor mask wearing.
But much of the country is stopping short of bringing back restrictions amid deep pandemic fatigue. https://t.co/jmvWcX4Uu2
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 3, 2022
As the world pretends the pandemic is over, at least a half-million children in the U.S. are struggling with long Covid https://t.co/QB0YtdFDSA via @BW
— Bloomberg (@business) May 4, 2022
Gotta say, Wisconsinites: This RonJon fella does not seem very bright!
On Rumble, anti-vaxxer Todd Callender says “[COVID] shots caused vaccine-induced AIDS. They purposefully gave people AIDS.”
Ron Johnson: "You gotta do one step at a time. Everything you say may be true. But right now, the public views the vaccines as largely safe and effective." pic.twitter.com/BhnulgiasF
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) May 3, 2022
Analysis: Ron Johnson takes his anti-vaccine rhetoric to a weird new place https://t.co/EM92NuNGyJ
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 4, 2022
On The Road – way2blue – Massi Mara, Kenya in July 4 of 6
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
612 new cases yesterday. This isn’t looking good.
The work on my bathroom is supposed to start next week. Ugh.
New Deal democrat
According to the CDC yesterday, variant BA.2.12.1 is only slowly increasing in share, up 7% for the week to 36.5%. In bellwethers NY and NJ, it also only rose about 10% to 62% of cases.
Nationwide cases rose to 63,200, a 9,800, or almost 20% increase from one week ago. This is a deceleration from 25% in the prior week period, and 30% the week before that.
Hospital admissions rose to 15,800. While hospitalizations started rising simulataneously with cases one month ago, suggesting that the elderly were the first affected by the new variant, they are now lagging cases by about 2 weeks.
Deaths have now started to rise, at 389.
In NJ, cases are up over 20% for the week. In NY, they are up 16%. This after both States appeared to plateau 1-2 weeks ago. Interestingly, in Central NYS, the original epicenter for BA.2.12.1, after increasing from March 9 to April 15, cases have steadily declined and are now down 20% from that peak. The re-acceleration is driven by the NYC area, especially by Queens and Suffolk County. This continues to make me wonder if we aren’t seeing the introduction of BA.4&5 from overseas travel.
rikyrah
What did Vietnam do different from other countries?
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
Didn’t have Fox News? ;-)
I don’t know shit about how Vietnam is actually run these days, but Wikipedia says it’s a one-party state, with the (apparently increasingly nominal) Communist Party being that party. So they may have the power to enforce universal vaccination. That’s my WAG, anyway.
lowtechcyclist
Half a million American kids with long Covid. But we don’t need masks in the schools, because Covid is over and done with.
I hate this timeline.
Raven
Well I went on the boat.Capacity was 33 and there were 7 of us. We were mostly on deck but there was plenty of room in the cabin and the ac was cranking. Best I could hope for.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 922 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,451,781 cases. It also reported nine deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,564 deaths – 0.80% of the cumulative reported total, 0.80% of resolved cases.
69 confirmed cases are in ICU; of these patients, 46 confirmed cases cases are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 5,520 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,384,384 patients recovered – 98.5% of the cumulative reported total.
921 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. One new case was imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 1,473 doses of vaccine on 3rd May: 200 first doses, 1,041 second doses, and 232 booster doses. The cumulative total is 70,329,975 doses administered: 27,772,992 first doses, 26,7324,141 second doses, and 16,036,202 booster doses. 85.1% of the population have received their first dose, 81.9% their second dose, and 49.1% their booster dose.
Ohio Mom
@lowtechcyclist: From yalemedicine.org
“With long COVID, many kids suddenly find themselves struggling to keep up with their schoolwork or skipping sports. Others can’t sleep or have difficulty walking, while yet others struggle with aches and pains, breathlessness, dizziness, and other troubling symptoms.”
That sounds like half a million new special ed students, under the category, “other health impairment.”
And it’s not like the special ed world isn’t already stretched to its breaking point.
NotMax
@Raven
Masked when not on deck?
Barbara
@rikyrah: They locked down much like NZ and then focused maniacally on vaccination. They also have a relatively young population.
YY_Sima Qian
On 5/3 Mainland China reported 353 new domestic confirmed (159 previously asymptomatic), 5,075 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 domestic suspect cases, & 16 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 12 new domestic confirmed (4 previously asymptomatic, 9 at Guangzhou & 3 at Jiangmen) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic (3 at Guangzhou & 1 at Jiangmen) cases. 2 of the cases at Guangzhou were previously asymptomatic, 5 of the new positive cases are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine, 4 via screening of residents under movement control, & 1 via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure. 2 of the cases at Jiangmen were previously asymptomatic, & the other 2 are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 11 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 153 active domestic confirmed & 53 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases, at Fangchenggang. 10 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Beihai) & 111 active domestic asymptomatic cases (93 at Fangchenggang & 18 at Baise) in the province.
At Hunan Province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 24 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 5 sites at Shaoyang are currently at Medium Risk.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 50 active domestic confirmed (46 at Hulun Buir, 3 at Baotou, & 1 at Chifeng) cases in the province. 4 sub-districts in Manzhouli are currently at Medium Risk.
At Tianjin Municipality 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
Shandong Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 12 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 29 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 67 active domestic confirmed cases & 607 active asymptomatic cases in the province. As not all of the administrative divisions in the province provide data on recoveries, I cannot track the count of active cases in all of the administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Shanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 18 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 24 active domestic confirmed (23 at Taiyuan & 1 at Yuncheng) & 83 active domestic asymptomatic (82 at Taiyuan & 1 at Shuozhou) cases remaining.
Hebei Province reported 28 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 2 domestic confirmed & 84 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed & 521 active asymptomatic case in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Liaoning Province reported 128 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 38 active domestic confirmed & 761 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Heilongjiang Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 42 domestic confirmed & 35 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 193 active domestic confirmed & 143 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic, all mild) & 38 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 74 domestic confirmed & 210 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. As the province does not consistently break down recoveries by confirmed & asymptomatic cases or by jurisdictions, I can no longer track the count of active case counts in the different jurisdictions.
Beijing Municipality reported 46 new domestic confirmed (45 mild & 1 moderate) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases. As the city does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 12 sites are currently at High Risk. 34 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 260 new domestic confirmed (151 previously asymptomatic) & 4,722 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 4,748 of the new domestic positive cases were already under quarantine & 63 via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure. There were 16 deaths (avg. 82.9 y.o., youngest at 64 y.o. & oldest at 99 y.o., all w/ a range of underlying conditions, none vaccinated). 1,869 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 9,573 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 11,770 active domestic confirmed (486 serious & 95 critical) & 94,599 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 13 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
At Shaanxi Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.
Hubei Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Huanggang, a person coming from elsewhere. 1 domestic confirmed & 11 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed (all mild, all at Wuhan) & 57 active domestic asymptomatic (28 at Wuhan, 13 at Ezhou, 7 at Huanggang, 6 at Xiangyang, & 1 each at Xiaogan, Xianning & Yichang) cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 22 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 5 domestic confirmed & 98 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The currently are 25 active domestic confirmed & 397 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in each administrative division, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Anhui Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case. 47 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 7 active confirmed & 192 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed (all previously asymptomatic) & 20 new domestic asymptomatic cases. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported versus domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
Fujian Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Fuzhou, a person coming from Shanghai on 5/1 & under centralized quarantine since. 3 domestic confirmed case recovered cases recovered. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed & 62 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 2 sites at Ningde remain at Medium Risk.
Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 10 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 2 domestic confirmed & 29 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 7 active domestic confirmed & 146 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
At Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Tongren) case remaining.
Jiangxi Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both mild) & 46 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 16 domestic confirmed & 27 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 203 active domestic confirmed & 623 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Henan Province reported 12 new domestic confirmed & 38 new domestic asymptomatic cases. The cases at Zhoukou are persons returning from Shanghai & under centralized quarantine since arrival. 1 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 45 active domestic confirmed & 164 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Sichuan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Chengdu, a construction worker returning from building temporary hospitals in Shanghai & under centralized quarantine since arrival, & a person coming from elsewhere & under centralized quarantine since arrival. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
At Yinchuan in Ningxia “Autonomous” Region there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the region.
Chongqing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the city.
At Qinghai Province 3 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed & 10 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 12 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 107 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Imported Cases
On 5/3, Mainland China reported 9 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 61 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 2,092 confirmed cases recovered (8 imported), 10,265 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (45 imported) & 162 were reclassified as confirmed cases (3 imported), & 33,845 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 14,520 active confirmed cases in the country (160 imported), 620 in serious/critical condition (all domestic), 128,319 active asymptomatic cases (529 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 469,877 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 5/3, 3,347.64M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 1.033M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 5/4 Hong Kong reported 313 new positive cases, 22 imported & 291 domestic (90 via RT-PCR & 201 from rapid antigen tests), 2 deaths (neither vaccinated) + 1 backlogged deaths.
On 5/4, Taiwan reported 28,487 new positive cases, 67 imported & 28,420 domestic (72 moderate & 5 serious). There were 5 new deaths (actual dates of death between 4/29 & 5/2, all having a range of underlying conditions, 2 fully vaccinated & boosted).
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: Based on 91-DIVOC, Vietnam’s level of vaccination is just OK, better than the US as a whole but not by much. But they seem to have done pretty well with non-medical interventions while also having relatively high vaccination. They got smacked by the Omicron wave just like everyone else, but the impact even there was a bit lower than in many other countries.
YY_Sima Qian
@Barbara:
@rikyrah:
Unlike NZ, Vietnam suffered a major Delta wave in Fall 2021 (same time as Malaysia, Thailand & other SE Asian nations), before vaccination had reached high levels. The wave caused quite a bit of deaths & severe social & economic disruptions, causing multinational corporations to shift production orders from SE Asia to China for the remainder of 2021.
Barbara
@YY_Sima Qian: I remember this. Vietnam locked down for a long time and then reopened too soon. Its overall death rate is still very low, relative to ours, of course. I also understood that the initial period during which they closed themselves off was fairly disruptive to their export oriented industries, not so much domestically.
mrmoshpotato
Dear Wisconsin,
We threw our Rethuglican Senator out on his ass in 2016. It can be done.
Love,
Illinois
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
The vaccination rate is pretty good. Also, relatively young demographics.
The median age in Vietnam was 30.5 years in 2015. In 2020, the share of population older than 65 amounted to about 7.9 percent. The median age in the US is 38.1 years, and the share of population age 65 and older is 16 percent.
Fair Economist
@rikyrah: Vietnam has had aggressive anti-COVID measures until quite recently. They only reopened bars earlier this month, for example. They are still pushing vaccines.
YY_Sima Qian
@Barbara: The lockdown at Ho Chih Minh City lasted months & was severely disruptive domestically. The Delta wave was caused by multiple breaches at quarantine for incoming visitors. Unlike other “Zero COVID” countries, where centralized quarantine meant individual rooms, Vietnam had put visitors in military barracks. One particularly notorious breach was when a group of visitors from India infected a group of visitors from China toward the end of their quarantine period. After the Chinese visitors were released from quarantine, they went to work at factories, ate at restaurants, & frequented brothels over a period of 2 weeks. The sex workers in particular accelerated the outbreak far & wide. Vietnam was not aware of the outbreak until the Chinese visitors returned to China & tested positive upon entry. By then, the outbreak was too far gone to really contain. Vietnam for all intents & purposes gave up on “Zero COVID” after that. There was another wave at end of 2021 (not sure the variant) that resulted in another wave of deaths (though lower than then Fall wave). By the time Omicron tsunami came around in early spring 2022, after opening up, deaths are significantly reduced by high vaccination & significant prior infection. Therefore, its Omicron experience has been similar to that of South Korea.
Despite the similarity in the nature of the regime, the Vietnamese Communist Party does not have the CCP regime’s resources & organizational/mobilizing capacity, & has had to employ the military to manage the logistics & enforcement of lockdowns. The latter primarily relied upon the party organizations down to the neighborhood/community level, though that too can breakdown under severe stress. as we have seen in Shanghai.
trollhattan
Spouse attended what turned out to be a superspreader event last week, got a text from someone she was near for a few hours that they had tested positive. Has heard in the meantime that other industry folks have also come down with covid. The day’s main event: address by Governor Newsom.
Spouse has no symptoms a week on and our BidenTests were negative. Thanks, Joe!
My booster 2 appointment is next week.
Raven
@NotMax: hahahahahaa